Drawing upon decades of experience, RAND provides research services, systematic analysis, and innovative thinking to a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms.

The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PRGS.edu) is the largest public policy Ph.D. program in the nation and the only program based at an independent public policy research organization—the RAND Corporation.

Purchase

Purchase Print Copy

Ten years after the birth of perestroika, the West has still not come to grips, either intellectually or in policy terms, with the revolutions perestroika unleashed. Initially, perestroika met with considerable Western skepticism, but that skepticism quickly gave way to unanimous acclaim. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Clinton Administration proclaimed America's backing for Yeltsin, but the U.S. focused support almost exclusively on promoting Russia's economic transition to a market economy and disregarded the failure of the Russian leadership to institutionalize democratic political reform. Dimming confidence in Russia's prospects for a successful democratic transition has contributed to a recent shift in Western thinking regarding NATO expansion to East Central Europe. The West's recent decision to ratchet up the NATO expansion process conveys a message about its enduring beliefs regarding Russia's place in the world that does not tally with its continuing support for Russia's Westernizing reform. It demonstrates that the Western world has still not sorted out its interests and priorities and risks squandering an opportunity to help shape a healthy future for Russia.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation paper series. The paper was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1948 to 2003 that captured speeches, memorials, and derivative research, usually prepared on authors' own time and meant to be the scholarly or scientific contribution of individual authors to their professional fields. Papers were less formal than reports and did not require rigorous peer review.

Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.